


Sewing Time is Bonding Time!

by Pastelgothlapis



Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Giovannis nonbianary, I might continue this at some point idk we’ll see, Now with chapter 2!, Very slight angst at one point but it’s nothing major I swear, and sylvies trans, mera is also trans because I said so, those are both very important to the story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:22:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23233933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pastelgothlapis/pseuds/Pastelgothlapis
Summary: Molly and Giovanni are determined to have crafting time with all their friends, new and old!
Relationships: Giovanni Potage & Indus Tarbella, Mera Salamin & Giovanni Potage, Mera Salamin & Indus Tarbella, Molly Blyndeff & Giovanni Potage, Molly Blyndeff & Indus Tarbella, Molly Blyndeff & Mera Salamin, Sylvester "Sylvie" Ashling & Giovanni Potage, Sylvester "Sylvie" Ashling & Molly Blyndeff, Sylvester "Sylvie" Ashling & Molly Blyndeff & Giovanni Potage
Comments: 2
Kudos: 77





	1. Chapter 1

As Giovanni, Molly and Sylvie drove away from the restaurant Giovanni was frantically fiddling with their phone. “I said call mom dangit!” The phone replied in its usual monotone robotic voice. “Calling Molly.” Giovanni shrieked in anger. “No! I said call mom! Ugh, worthless piece of...” They trailed off, quickly remembering Molly and Sylvie where in the passenger and back seats respectively. Calming themself, Giovanni handed the phone to Molly. “Beartrap? Do you think you could call my mom, I kinda have to focus on the road for a sec, just gimme the phone when you’ve got it.” Molly shrugged. “No problem boss, and you don’t have to restrain yourself from swearing in front of me... my dad does it all the time anyway.” She added the last part in a disappointed tone. Giovanni patted her shoulder assuringly. “Nonsense, you need good role models and besides it’s a bad habit to be in.” Sylvie chimed in, having been otherwise quiet since the trio got in the car. “Well if you ask me, it’s pretty undignified to go around swearing anyway.” Giovanni sighed as they merged onto the freeway. “I didn’t really ask, but noted.” 

Molly put Giovanni’s phone back into its holder and pressed the speaker phone button since their hands were busy. “Thanks Beartrap.” The phone rang for a few seconds before Giovanni’s mom finally picked up. “Hey mom, I wanted to check in with you before I did anything, but is it okay if I have a few friends over from the villain meeting?” Giovanni’s mom seemed to think about it for a few seconds before responding. “Alright I guess so, but don’t let that Car Crash kid drive the car! His aunt said he is specifically not allowed to drive anything he isn’t heavily insured for.” Giovanni made a face. “Mom! You’re on speaker! if he was in the car right now that would have been very rude!” Molly and Sylvie glanced at each other nervously as Giovanni continued the increasingly loud conversation with their mom. “Anyway though I’m just bringing over Beartrap and Pink Sheep, we were gonna do craft stuff and maybe play some video games” Sylvie almost interjected at his new nickname but Molly shushed him. “Well That sounds good, anyway when you get here I’m gonna take the car and go for my spin class, I’ll be back around six, love you!” Giovanni reached for the button to hang up as they muttered. “Yeah, love you too mom, bye.”

As soon as the call was over Sylvie almost jumped out of his seat, or at least as much as his safety belt would allow. “Since when is my name Pink Sheep!?” Giovanni shrugged and gave a small smile. “Sorry I just needed to think of a name quick and it was fitting, you have pink hair and you summon sheep.” Sylvie sat back down and pouted. “Yeah I guess, I just want something cooler as a villain name if I’m gonna have one, maybe something like The Psychologist!” Molly shook her head and Giovanni removed a hand from the wheel to give a thumbs down to the suggestion. Putting their hand back on the wheel Giovanni explained. “That’s literally your job dude, also psychologists aren’t even really that menacing, except for maybe telling you about your childhood trauma or something.” Molly raised her hand. “Ooh I’ve got a good one! How about Doctor Nightmare!” Giovanni high fived her. “Nice Beartrap!” Sylvie grinned. “Yes! That’s an awesome villain name!” He quickly regained his composure, blushing a bit at his outburst. “I mean, y’know, if I’m gonna lean into doing the whole villain thing with you guys anyway.”

As Giovanni got off the freeway Molly changed the subject. “So where is your house anyway? We’ve been driving for awhile now.” Giovanni pointed in the general direction of a nice looking neighborhood. “Over there somewhere, it’s on La Minestra street, we’ll be there in a sec.” As they pulled up to the house Molly and Sylvie were surprised at how nice it was. Sylvie spoke up. “Wait, if you and your mom are sharing a car how do you have such a nice house?!” The trio got out of the car as Giovanni searched for their keys. “We’re not sharing a car so much as I think my mom thinks I’m not responsible enough to have one yet, but yeah. Also you should see the alimony payments my mom gets.” Molly just shrugged as she and Sylvie waited for Giovanni to unlock the door. As they walked in Giovanni shouted. “Hey mom! We’re back! Cars outside! Have fun at spin class!” A short, thin woman ran down the stairs in workout clothes, clearly eager to get to her spin class. “Okay! Bye Gio! I’m heading out now, have fun with your friends!” She shouted as she ran out the door. 

“You guys can sit down, I’m gonna run upstairs and get my crafting stuff, I just got the coolest shimmery pink fabric the other day and I have plans for it!” Giovanni ran upstairs leaving Molly and Sylvie quietly sitting on the couch. Sylvie was the first to break the silence while they waited. “So uh, did you like the restaurant Molly?” Molly nodded. “Yeah it was fine, it was nice to get out a bit. I still can’t believe you ordered a burger, but yeah.” Sylvie chose to ignore the last part of her comment so as to avoid unfortunate implications. “So what do you and Giovanni usually do during these ‘craft parties’ anyway?” He said finger quoting. Molly pulled out her sewing kit and smiled. “Usually we work on our projects and talk, and also sometimes we play video games, I’m getting pretty good at Splatoon now since that’s Giovanni’s favorite.” Sylvie pouted. “The video games sound fun but I’m not really very crafty or artsy so I’m not sure what I’ll really be doing for this.” Molly reached a hand out to put on his shoulder. “That’s the whole fun of craft stuff! You don’t have to be good at it, you just have to have fun! Me and Giovanni can definitely help you find a craft that suits you.” Sylvie smiled, not because he felt reassured so much as because he appreciated Molly’s attempt at comforting him.

Giovanni could be heard thumping down the stairs, their combat boots loudly clunking against each step. They stumbled into the room and dumped several yards of fabric and balls of yarn onto the coffee table in front of the sofa. Sylvie raised an eyebrow. “How much of this stuff do you even have? This must be like your whole stash.” Giovanni mocked looking around nervously in an exaggerated way before retaking their usual composure. “This isn’t even half my fabric stash, I have a whole closet of the stuff upstairs.” Molly pulled out her sewing kit. “So what are you working on today boss? I’m gonna be reupholstering some teddy bears that my dad made some... unfortunate fabric choices on.” She gestured to some stuffed bears next to her backpack that seemed to have been sewn with car seat upholstery rather than fabric. “That’s cool, Beartrap, I’m gonna be working on a super awesome cosplay! Me and my boys are gonna be cosplaying Tokyo Mew Mew at Sweet Jazz Comic Con next month! Naturally I’ll be Ichigo since she’s the team leader.” Giovanni carefully pulled a not quite finished pink dress out from under their fabric stash to show off to their friends. “Wow, that’s really accurate actually, you even got the red lace edging right.” Giovanni grinned. “Thanks Sylvie, it’s nice to have the opinion of another Mew Mew fan.” 

Giovanni set the dress back down on the coffee table before another thought popped into their head. “Hey Sylvie what were you gonna do? Me and Beartrap both have projects we’re working on but you didn’t bring anything.” Molly spoke up before Sylvie could answer. “Actually we were just talking about that, I might have an idea.” Molly pulled out her phone and quickly searched for some tutorials on finger knitting. “You’re good with wool textiles right? Maybe you could try this out?” Molly handed Sylvie her phone which displayed a relatively simple looking tutorial. “Alright, I guess it can’t hurt to try.” Sylvie picked up a ball of mint green yarn from Giovanni’s stash and twirled it around his fingers. Before he knew it he had already managed to do a few rows that were coming along nicely. “Wow, that’s really neat actually, not to mention the relaxation benefits this could have, I should definitely recommend this to some of my patients with anxiety.” Molly smiled. “I knew you’d get the hang of it!”

Giovanni looked up from the stitching they were doing on their cosplay. “Y’know Sylvie, you don’t have to be thinking about your job all the time, I mean have you had any opportunities to just be a kid since you started your job... college... medical school, come to think of it, did you graduate high school at like five or something?” Sylvie put a hand to his chest and grinned in his usual self assured way. “Actually I was ten, and I was valedictorian of both my high school and college graduating classes!” Giovanni and Molly both blinked in surprise. “Wow, I actually feel a little bad for you now, didn’t you have any time to have fun and be a kid at all?” Molly chimed in. “Yeah at least I had some fun times before everything went to pieces.” Sylvie looked down and bit on his nail, clearly having a difficult time finding any memories like that. “First of all I’m not a kid, but, my parents pushed me into all this stuff when I was little... and I didn’t get much of a say in the matter, now that I have an income and my own place I don’t really talk to them much anymore. I mean I love my studies and my career but sometimes I do kinda wish...” Giovanni walked over and patted Sylvie’s shoulder. “Hey, anytime you wanna get away from your job or whatever I’ll be here for you dude.” Sylvie gave a small smile. “Thanks Giovanni.” Molly came over and pulled them both in for a hug. “Group hug!”

Giovanni broke from the hug and grabbed Sylvie’s phone off the table. Opening the camera app, they rejoined the hug and held out the phone. “Smile!” The trio gave their most earnest smiles as the shutter sound effect went off. Giovanni handed the phone back to Sylvie. “Here, now you’ve got a memory from today to remind you that me and Beartrap are gonna be here for you when you need us!” Sylvie happily accepted his phone. “Thanks guys, I guess I really needed this.” The trio slowly got back to crafting their respective projects. Molly overlaid the fabric on her teddy bears with some lovely rainbow tie dye fabric. Giovanni was able to almost completely finish their cosplay outfit even with its extra accessories. Sylvie, despite being new to crafting was even able to finish a pastel green arm warmer and felt very proud of himself at the accomplishment. The time seemed to fly by and before the trio knew it Giovanni’s mom was back and it was time for them to go home.

Sylvie showed off his arm warmer to Molly as they headed to the car. “It looks cool right?! Only really cool edgy people wear arm warmers!” Molly nodded feeling quite satisfied with herself for introducing Sylvie to this hobby. Molly called out into the house “You ready to head out Giovanni?” They shouted back from upstairs. “Yeah! Just lemme grab my bag and we can head out.” Molly and Sylvie headed for the car and opened the door, she flipped the seat forward so Sylvie could get in the back and then flipped it back so she could sit in the front. Molly turned towards the back after sitting down. “Hey I hope you had a good time today, I’ll call you tomorrow and maybe we can pick out some yarn to put in your office.” Sylvie smiled back at her as he bucked his seat belt. “Thanks I’d like that, you know you should still come in for a session, it sounds like you could really use it.” Molly sighed as she buckled her own belt. “I know but right now I just wanna try to forget everything upsetting and enjoy my time off, you understand right?” Sylvie nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

Giovanni hopped into the car and tossed their bag in the backseat next to Sylvie. “Alright everyone! Get your seatbelts on we have a ways to go before both of you get home!” Giovanni stuck a cassette tape in the player and took off. It wasn’t long before they got off the freeway in the arts district. “Alright Beartrap this is your stop, try to go to bed early tonight! it’s a school night!” Molly unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. “Okay, I’ll try!” She waved as Giovanni’s car drove away, somewhat dreading the fact that her shift was about to start. The ride to Sylvie’s place didn’t take as long as they expected thanks to Giovanni breaking the speed limit at numerous points just to see if they could. “Okay Sylvie, here’s your place, and try to actually relax once in awhile, nerd.” Sylvie rolled his eyes at the last part but appreciated the sentiment nonetheless. “Thanks Giovanni, you’re a good friend, even if I don’t always act like it.” Sylvie got out and watched Giovanni’s car disappear around the corner feeling just a little bit more confident in himself and his friendships as he searched for his keys.


	2. Chapter 2

“Beartrap are you sure we have to do this? I mean she tried to take your epithet! And actually did take Sylvie’s epithet!” Molly fidgeted with her seatbelt as she and Giovanni drove over to Mera and Indus’s apartment. “I know she did, but she’s really making an effort to be a better person! And she seemed like she really wanted to make things right when she came to visit me at the toy store.” Giovanni raised an eyebrow. “Wait how did she visit you? Didn’t she like go to jail or at least get put on house arrest or something?” Molly shrugged. “Apparently her lawyers epithet was like persuade or something.” Giovanni turned their attention back to the road. “Yeah that makes sense I guess, that’s literally the only way I could imagine her getting off that easy for everything.” Molly pointed to the apartment complex up the street from where they were. “There it is, now try to be nice, she was nice to us after all.” Giovanni waved her off as they found a spot to park. “Yeah, Alright I’ll try my best, just know I’m mainly doing this for you.” Molly smiled. “Thanks Giovanni I knew I could count on you! Now, do we have everything we need?” Giovanni nodded as they got out of the car. “Yep! Cross stitch, sewing kits, paints, other stuff... it’s all here!” 

“Okay, Let’s grab some stuff to bring in, we’ll get the rest if nothing from the first batch really clicks with them.” Both of them gathered up as many craft supplies as they could carry and walked towards the first floor apartment. Molly knocked on the door and Indus quickly answered. “Ah! Hello Miss Molly, Mx. Giovanni, it’s good to see you again, maybe your visit will cheer Lady Mera up!” Molly carefully set her craft supplies on the coffee table, while Giovanni just dumped most of their’s on the couch. “Where is she anyway? I mean she’s the one who wanted us to come over.” Indus pointed towards her bedroom door. “Lady Mera is in her room right now trying to conserve energy in preparation of your visit. Would you like to go in and see her?” Molly grabbed Giovanni’s hand and headed for the door. “Yeah, I think we will, thanks Indus!” Indus nodded. “Excellent! I will go get some tea, we just got some lovely new BARRIER themed teacups and saucers.” Giovanni bent down to whisper to Molly. “How exactly can a tea set be barrier themed?” Molly shrugged and the pair made their way into Mera’s room. 

Her room was painted a subdued lavender color with white drapes and accents. Against the wall an ornate black wrought iron canopy bed sat, with Mera in it. “Hey guys thanks for coming to visit me, even after, well everything really.” Molly was the first to speak up. “Well after your visit to the toy store I knew you were sincere about wanting to be friends so I figured I’d give you the benefit of the doubt. And besides Indus said you were having a pretty bad depressive episode.” Mera rolled her eyes and lazily checked her nails. “He exaggerates, I’m not depressed I just have no motivation or energy to do anything but lay in bed.” Giovanni raised a finger and opened their mouth but quickly closed it and let her continue. “But I do really appreciate it, do you guys want some tea? INDUS GET THEM SOME TEA!” Indus walked in with a tray of orange teacups and saucers and handed one to each of them. “Lady Mera! Our guests have brought crafts to cheer you up! Shall I bring them in? The crafts that is, all guests are present!” Mera waved her hand. “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

Indus carefully brought in some of the crafting supplies and set them at the foot of Mera’s bed. He looked through to see if there were any crafts that Mera would like but was quickly distracted by a dinosaur themed crochet kit. “Miss Molly! Look! There is a dinosaur themed crochet kit! May I try it?” Molly smiled. “Go for it Indus!” Seemingly contented Indus sat down on the white lace rug and began following the instructions to create his very own crochet pterodactyl. Mera looked up and raised an eyebrow. “Look I know you brought this stuff to cheer me up but I’m not a kid, I’m not gonna be entertained by whatever it is Indus thinks he’s doing.” She gestured to Indus who was trying, and failing, to crochet his dinosaur. “I’m having fun nonetheless!” Giovanni went over to Indus. “Here, let me help you, it’s super simple once you get the hang of it!”

Molly looked around the room for something that would interest Mera. She walked over to Mera’s dresser and pointed out some elegantly dressed ball jointed dolls. “What about these? They’re all so pretty but the one on the end is just blank.” Mera looked downward. “Yeah, I haven’t really felt like researching artists to paint them or make them an outfit even though I got that one a few months ago.” Molly picked up the doll and brought it over to Mera. “Hey! Be careful with that, those are expensive and fragile!” Molly carefully set the doll down next to Mera. “Don’t worry I’m being careful, but I had an idea, you could paint this doll! It’s really easy to do, I paint dolls for the toy store all the time, usually they’re not fancy like this one but still!” Mera picked up the doll and stared at it, thinking about what Molly said. “I just don’t know, I’ve never done anything like that before, what if I screw it up? I mean these are really expensive dolls.” Giovanni got up from helping Indus with the crochet kit and chimed in. “Y’know you can always wipe it an try again if you don’t like it, I’ve painted dolls with Beartrap before, it’s a lot of fun!” Mera moved her legs to sit on the edge of the bed and clutched the doll carefully to avoid dropping it. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to try.”

Mera, Molly and Giovanni made their way back to the living room. Giovanni grabbed some newspaper and covered the dining room table with it while Molly got out the paints and sealant. Mera sat down at the table and set the doll down. “So it’s really just that simple? Maybe I can work with this.” Giovanni set out some more supplies to work on their own projects. “That’s the spirit Mera!” It wasn’t long before before the four of them were happily working on their projects at the dining table. Mera had painted her doll with a dramatically gothic faceup. Indus had successfully crocheted half a pterodactyl in an hour. Molly and Giovanni meanwhile were working some new things for the toy store. Molly painted some toys cars with metallic paints and Giovanni was painting some dollhouse furniture.

“Uh, pink banzai?” They looked up. “It’s Giovanni actually, and I’m not a banzai blaster anymore, but what did you wanna say?” Mera rolled her eyes and corrected herself. “Giovanni, you do realize you don’t work for the toy store right? You don’t have to work on that kiddie stuff if you don’t want to.” Giovanni narrowed their eyes but took a breath and calmed themself down. “Actually I like helping Beartrap out and I like working with toys so its really a win-win.” Mera felt a bit of warmth come into her cheeks and looked away. “Sorry, That was kind of rude I guess, I really don’t have much experience with this whole ‘having friends’ or ‘holding conversations’ thing.” Giovanni continued painting as they listened to Mera’s explanation before interjecting. “It’s alright, I’m starting to realize that almost everyone who was in the museum that night basically has no experience with friendship.” Molly started to speak up about that. “Hey that’s not... actually yeah, you’re kinda right, sorry guys.” Indus looked up from his crocheting and answered in his usual chipper voice. “It’s alright Miss Molly! No offense taken!”

Mera accidentally touched the paint on her doll’s face again, causing it to crack and flake off. “DAMN IT! Ughhh I’m never gonna finish at this rate.” Giovanni covered Molly’s ears on reflex at Mera’s outburst and shot her a mean look. “Sorry, sorry, I’m just getting really frustrated with this, it’s like my epithet makes everything difficult, even art!” Giovanni took their hands off of Molly’s ears to let her respond. “Do you want me to dumb down your epithet again? It might help you at least finish your project.” Mera shook her head. “Nah, my meds are getting me through right now pain wise. But thanks, I think I’ll try again, I might have an idea.” Mera wiped the part of the face she was working on and repainted it much more dramatically. Once she was done she pressed her finger to center of the paint creating a dramatic cracked pattern in the dolls makeup. Giovanni looked over at her work to see. “Wow that looks really cool, it’s totally edgy and unique!” Mera looked up from her work. “I never realized my epithet could create something so cool, I guess every now and then it does have some upsides.”

“Are you done with your doll Mera? It looks really nice! It’ll look great with your collection!” Mera beamed. “Thanks Molly, I actually feel really good about it, which is definitely something I don’t say a lot about, well pretty much anything I do.” Giovanni began to pack up their things as Indus and Mera went out onto the terrace to seal her work. “Well Beartrap, I’d say we did pretty good today, we could even do this again with them sometime maybe.” Molly smiled back at them as she packed her things back into her backpack. “Thanks boss, also me and Sylvie already have plans to go to lunch with them next week, do you wanna come?” Giovanni grinned. “Of course! Maybe we can even do some crime things afterward!” The pair headed towards the terrace where Mera was just finishing her sealing. “Hey guys we’re gonna head out now, I have to get Beartrap back to the store before her shift starts!” Mera waved them off mumbling. “Later guys, today was... nice...” Indus saw the two to the door. “Thank you again for doing this Miss Molly, Mx. Giovanni, this is the happiest I’ve seen Lady Mera in weeks, I know she appreciates this even if she doesn’t show it.” Molly looked up at Indus. “Take care you guys, and tell her we hope she feels better.” Giovanni nodded in agreement and the pair headed back out to their car. 

“I still can’t believe we’re friends with them now, it’s sorta weird, it’s like being friends with a rival gang or something.” Molly shrugged as she got into the car. “The way I see it Mera never really wanted to harm people so much as she was just scared and in pain. I think she’s really a good person deep down, Indus too.” Giovanni shrugged. “I guess Beartrap, sometimes I think you can be a little too trusting but I’ll go along with you just to make sure they don’t try to do something stupid. After all! Anybody who messes with Giovanni Potage’s minion, and friend, is gonna be sorry!” Giovanni ended their decoration by striking as cool a pose as they could while wearing their seatbelt. Molly giggled. “I know you’ll protect me, but I promise we don’t have anything to worry about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m pretty sure this is gonna be the end of this fic unless I decide Molly and Giovanni should take their craft powers to Percy, Ramsey and Zora. Also I’m an actual doll repainter so Mera’s doll experiences are somewhat based on mine aside from the interference with her epithet.

**Author's Note:**

> These kids needed a break so Sibling Time™️, check out my tumblr if you liked this too @pastelgothlapis!


End file.
